Does anyone know what is happening to Hamilton Lodge Nursing Home on Honor Oak Rd, next to Horniman Drive ?. It appears to be empty and there are no residents in the home. It is a lovely 1930's house & have not seen any planning notices on or near the building but have seen workmen going in and out removing furniture etc & undertaking some work. I did ask them but they were unable to give me any information.

From the 1950s to 1970, I lived almost opposite Hamilton Lodge. During that period it was first a private residence and then when the family moved on it did indeed become a language centre.

I am surprised that it has lasted as long as it has, even during the above period there were times when it was uninhabited. It must cost a small fortune to heat and run.

As a boy, I used to get up early before going to school (Fairlawn) and collect conkers from the trees that are outside Hamilton Lodge, which border Honor Oak Road.

Should anyone be interested, this, (see link below) is what used to be opposite Hamilton Lodge up until 1961. I used to play in the gardens of the houses shown (they stretched down almost as far as Devonshire Road) and I can remember that there were stables. You will note that the housing estate that is now opposite Hamilton Lodge bears the same name as the original owner of one of the houses.

We will need to keep a watch on this - in case they create these 19 residential units. As you all know there is a large development coming up on Tyson Road. There are 4 main schools within a quarter mile of this site and a new nursery - this has and will result in a lot more traffic and will put pressure on existing neighbourhood services and particularly the "very narrow" Honor Oak Road.

Looking at the CQC (Care Quality Commission) website, it lost its registration as a care home last year. The inspection report summary does not look at all good and the company also have a warning about one of their other care homes. Hamilton Lodge may have been forced to clsoe because of poor standards. One can't help but feel very concerned for the people that lived there whilst they were there, and also after they have now moved on - it is not uncommon for residents' health and wellbeing to suffer significantly by the trauma of a care home move.

Anyway, as a child attening Fairlawn school in the mid 60s I remember students coming from what was then the Eurocentre to the school and standing patiently in class as we trilled "Frere Jaques" or "Sur le pont D'Avignon". We had no idea what the words meant - they were just sounds and noises as far as were concerned! I also recall at least one horse being kept on the bit of high rising ground to the right of the Eurocentre/Hamilton Lodge as you face it, which you used to be able to see grazing through the fence, it was intriguing bit of the rustic plonked into the local neighbourhood.

The sales particulars say that the facade will have to be retained in any redevelopment. Presumably someone has spoken to the clowns in Laurence House about redevelopment and that is the party line from the planners.

I can't see retaining the facade alone is ideal. After all Hamilton House is a pretty ordinary Edwardian building which has suffered death by extension. If it is going to be turned over to residential, which seems inevitable, why not have a properly designed block of flats that actually has a bit of architectural merit?

I wouldn't get too excited about trying to say Honor Oak Road can't take any more traffic. We are all going to be living with gridlock as London's population continues to grow and the Planning Department is only interested in meeting its annual housing quota. What HOR really needs is a 20 mph speed limit and some policing.

I am surprised as have not seen any renovation work happen inside the building to adapt it for families to be living in as I am sure the previous set up of individual bedrooms for elderly would not be suitable ?.

I thought it was squatted because individuals were throwing black rubbish refuse bags all over the car park, guess Lewisham Council got residents into property but did not arrange bins or any collection !. There is now a large skip being used to throw the bags into.

Housing for homeless families means there will be there on a temporary basis until they are found permanent accommodation, this type of residential unit can cause a lot of problems. Lets hope Lewisham Council will maintain this beautiful building & any tenancy agreement will require residents to be responsible for care & upkeep of their designated areas & that there will be enforcement of tenancy conditions by council officers.

Fairlawn school is but a few metres up the road, is packed to the rafters and if it had space, the management team is more than up to the task of running a larger school. The nursery annexe to the school is relatively distant which does cause difficulties to parents.

If Lewisham thought it through, and provided Hamilton Lodge to Fairlawn to house both the nursery and, say, the infant school, then it would allow expansion to full 2 form entry, providing more sorely needed primary spaces, without Lewisham having to agree to Free school or academy status as Fairlawn is committed to remaining LEA.

Is there anything we can do to perhaps make Lewisham think the above is there own idea, and start putting the process in motion.

Then the existing nursery annexe could potentially be used as temporary accommodation - which with it being closer to the town centre, closer to the transport links and probably better monitored, may be better for the community as a whole?